TargetGroupImprovementActionResearchPlan

Adaptedfrom:MarylandStateDepartmentofEducationSchoolImprovementPlan,2010.

Name

AngelicaAlvarado

School

RiverviewLanguageAcademy

AnalyzeData
Basedon20122013CSTscores,thecurrenttargetgroupwereperformingbasictobelow
basicof29%ofstudentpopulationfromgrade2.Withthecurrentbaselineandstrategic
planningfromGrade4teachers,thesestudentswillbescaffoldedtoperformproficientin
2015.
TheScholasticReadingIntervention(SRI)Growthprogressreportshowsexpectedgrowthin
LexilesforeachstudentbasedongradelevelandinitialLexilescore.Theactualgrowthcan
demonstratetheeffectivenessofaninterventionprogram.Furthermore,SRIisadministered
beforetheendofeachtrimester.Inaddition,datademonstratesthegrowthneededfor
studentstoreachproficientthroughcontinuousandcarefulplanningofscaffoldstomodify
instructionaldeliverythroughoutinterventionandclassroomactivities.Thedatapresented
aboveshowsfiveinterventionstudentsinRead180,whohaveincreasedtheirlexilescore
fromOctobertoJanuary.Lastly,theendoftheyearproficiencytargetrangeisfrom740940
lexilelevel,therefore,studentsscoresarefarbelowgradelevelproficiencylevel.

HomeConnectionData
Basedonthetargetgroup,theusageofLexiaCore5athomevariesandsomestudents'
homeenvironmentdoesnothaveaccessorhasdeclinedusingtheonlinetool.Eachchild
mustcompletethesessionsathomeandtwostudentsfromthetargetgroupdemonstratea
lackofparentinvolvementincompletingtheonlineprogram.EachparentatRiverviewhas
beenprovidedwithdetailedemailregardingthenewlyadaptedprogramtosupportEnglish
LanguageAcquisition.Inaddition,duringparentteacherconferences,eachteacherexplained
theimportanceofthiswebsiteasaprimarytooltosupportatschoolandathome.Throughout
theyear,parentshavebeenremindedtotheexpectationandimportanceofusingLexiaCore

5.Thechartbelowdemonstratethelackofparentalsupportathomewiththeonlineprogram,
whichisevidentbecausethebelowtwoexamplesdemonstratethatwithin6monthsofthe
program,studentsstillremainedwithinlevel69,firstgradeskillsinreadingcomprehension.

IndependentReadingAssessments
ThepurposeoftheScholasticReadingCounts(SRC)reportconsistsofatablethatshows
thenumberofbooksreadandrelatedbookinformationbytargetgroup.Thebooksareread
inclassandathomeanddemonstrateindependentreading.Theevidenttrendshowsthat3/5
studentshavenotcompletedanySRCquizzes.Thestudentsselectedfortheproject,are
studentsbothinhomeroomandinterventiongroupduringRead180.Thesefivestudents
continuetodemonstratelowesttestscoresinSTAR,AcceleratedReader,SRIandteacher
observationsfromvariousclosereadingactivities.
ThediagnosticreportforAcceleratedReadercanshowARquizzestakenfromSeptemberto
April.Theoverallpercentageofcorrectresponsesdemonstratewhichstudentsneedsome
furtherguidanceinvariouscomprehensionskillstoachievemastery.Thepointscan
demonstratehowmanypointsearnedthusfar.Thisinformationisdisplayedinclasstoensure
studentsachievetheclassgoalof50ARpoints.Clearly,thetargetgroupislessthan1/5in
reachingthegoal.Thisdemonstratesthelackofmotivationinleisurereading.Lastly,the
ATOSbooklevel(BL)demonstratetheaverageindependentreadinglevel.Studentsare
challengingthemselvesanditshowsbasedonthevariousbooklevelselections.TheLexile
MeasureisanindicatorusedtomatchRead180tovalidatethecorrelationbetweenboth
assessments.Asaresult,basedonthedata,themainfocusforinterventionwillbereading
comprehensioninEnglish.

Clarify the Problem

TargetGroupandJustification
The target group selected are Grade 4 students who are currently not proficient in English
Language Arts based on reading comprehension gaps from 2013 CST data, monthly STAR
testing, Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) and Accelerated Reader reading range is far
below grade level. As a result, the target group has been selected to participate in the
intervention plan based on more than three assessments demonstrating the target group is
reading two or moregradelevelsbelowfourthgrade expectationandwouldliketoshowthem
thevalueofhardworkanddedication.
Students and staff members value Stephen Coveys Seven Habits for Happy Kids with the
guidance of Leader in Mewebsite. Educators are dedicated to a school wide transformation
and value of academic performance and equip students with skills of leadership, problem
solving, creativity, communication, self direction, teamwork and accountability through each
habit.

Rootcausesandcontributingfactor(s)
Some external factors that may lead to the problem in the target group is lack of parental
involvement. Furthermore, the new shift to Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has
created a challenge in finding appropriate curriculum that supports the educational
expectation. As a result, the district has attempted to develop assessments alignment to
CCSS and the new pacing guide with anchor standards for each trimester. However, a
majority of the students within the district performed below grade level and did not reach
proficient in readingcomprehension,sowithintheorganization thereisaphaseofcurriculum
development to meet theneeds of ourdiversestudents. Withteacherexploration,instruction
is focused on Spanish with various GLAD strategies to ensure comprehensible input and
language development for the target group in reading.Lastly, the organizational structure of
the school can allow educators to have an open dialogue about students patterns of
classroom behavior. Furthermore, the dialogue may occur during professional development,
in which, educators can share effective strategies to guide positive student behavior toward
reading. This factor can provide further insight into past grade level experiences from soft

data like classroom observations during whole class closed reading and/or small group
guided reading. All these external factors can provide further information into a childs
educationalexperience.
HypothesizeContributingFactorsData
lackofinternetforexistingonlineprograminEnglish,Read180orLexiaCore5,to
driveinstructionallearningathome
MinimalorNoParentInvolvement,someparentworktwojobs,singleparents
environmentand/orattendExtendedStudentProgram(beforeandafterschool
programservices)
ScholasticReadingInventoryimplementedinlatergradesofGrade4,and5and
LexileLevelsareutilizedtocreateinterventiongroup(noearlyintervention),students
areidentifiedinuppergradesforEnglishreadingcomprehension,theidentification
processofSRIbeganingrade3andnotadministeredinfirstorsecondgrade

ActionResearchPlanfor20152016

GoalsandObjectives
SMART Goal: Students at Riverview Elementary School will improve their English
readingcomprehensionscoresinRead180andSTARreadingprograms.
Objective 1: The target intervention group will improve their SRI, spellingreadinginventory,
comprehensionscoresby75percentbytheendoftheschoolyear.
Objective 2: The target intervention group will improve in STARindependentreadinglevelby
80%percentbytheendoftheschoolyear.
Objective 3: The target intervention group will score 8 out of 10 on the SRC, scholastic
reading counts, independent reading quizzes that will include academic vocabulary and
comprehensionskills.
SRIinformsteachersofreadingperformancelevelbasedonlexilelevel.Thisisalignedto
Read180becauseifstudentsperformbelow200400fromtheirgradelevelexpectations,
thenimmediateinterventionmustoccurtofillinthegapsinreadingcomprehension.The

STARtestisanotherformofassessmentthatprovidesteacherswithstronglysupportsusing
assessmentdatatoinforminstructionaldecisions.Forthatreason,mostschoolsteststudents
morefrequentlythanthreeorfourtimesduringtheschoolyearforplacementofpossible
intervention.STARtestdatahelpsteacherswithprogressmonitoringforstudentsin
intervention.Furthermore,SRC(scholasticreadingcounts)trackshowmanybookspassed
andwordsreadwithintheRead180intervention.Alltheassessmentsstatedabovecanguide
studentsintooroutoftheinterventionprocessbasedonthedata.

StakeholderAccountability
Ourschoolsitevaluesleadershiprolesandaccountability.Asaresult,eachstakeholderholds
valueintheinterventionprocess.Leadershiprolesincludeadministration,resourcespecialist
(RSP),andteachersonspecialassignment(TOSAs)whofocusontechnology
implementationintheclassroom.Hence,wheneducatorsneedsomeguidanceinto
classroominstruction,theycanspeaktoaleaderintheschoolandaskaboutadditional
resources.Furthermore,theseschoolsiteleadersprovidesomeideasonstrategicplanningin
ordertoachieveeducationalgrowth,therefore,theirinputisimportantintheprocess.
Educatorsarethegluethatholdseveryonetogether.Theyarethepersonofcontactforthe
studentswhoarenotperformingatgradelevel.Theyhaveacriticalroleinensuringtheyuse
classroomtimeeffectivelywithdifferentstrategiestoscaffoldeachchild'slearningdaily.
Throughtheprocess,parentsmustbeinformedperiodicallyoftheirchild'slearningprogress.
Parentscanhelpathomewithprovingaquietplacetoreadandallowstudentstodevelopa
loveofreadingbyofferingavarietyofbookstoreadathome.Inaddition,parentsshouldfeel
freetoaskquestionsorshareconcernsabouttheirchild'seducationalexperienceatanypoint
intheschoolyear.Inaddition,parentswillhaveweeklycommunicationwitheducatorson
theirchildsprogressbyusingthecommunicationtoolsofSchoologyandRemindApp.Emails
willbeutilizedtosharetheparentlettertoinformparentsontheimportanceoftheir
participationduringtheinterventionprocess.Furthermore,theemailswouldbedirectedto
individualstudentsneedsandgrowth.Thecommunicationwillvaryduetochild'sneedsin
ordertoprovideacommunityoftransparentcommunication.Inaddition,Iwillcreateanopen

forumofweeklyblogsonSchoologywithathomestrategiesandnewsletterstokeepparents
involved.
StudentswilllookattheirprogressinaweeklybasisbylookingattheirSTARtestsand
monitoringtheirweeklyARreadingtests.Studentswillbeaccountablebygraphingtheir
progressonchartsandplacingitintheirleadershipnotebook.Thisadditionofaccountability
willaddprideandhardworkintheinterventionprocess.DuringconferencesandOpen
House,studentscanshowcasetheirleadershipnotebookwithparents,administrationand
TOSAs.Bymakingstudentsandparentspartnersintheprocessitcanleadtoacademic
success.Asaresult,studentswillbeactivelearnersandconstantpositivereinforcementwill
occurduringtheprocess,whichcanleadtointrinsicmotivationtoreadindependent.

A
ttainmentofObjectives
Inordertoattaintheobjectives,
studentswillperform80%,orhigher,ontheirweeklyquizzes
inAcceleratedReader.Bygraphingtheirownperformanceofeachbook,studentswillbeable
tovisualizethegoalsofindependentreading.Furthermore,withintheRead180program,
studentsareexpectedtocontinuereadingindependentlyandscore
8outof10
comprehensionquestionsonScholasticReadingCounts(SRC)onaweeklybasis.In
addition,theteachersinfourthgradewillanalyzestudentworkfromtheweeklypacketand
providesupportduringsmallgroupguidedreading.Throughcarefulplanningandanalyzation
ofdata,wehopetoengagestudentsinreadingbyincreasingtheirscoresby75percentby
theendoftheschoolyearforSRI.Lastly,toensureattainmentofgoalsandobjectives,
teacherswillcontinue6
weekflexiblegroupingofinterventiongroupandstudentcelebrations
ofgrowth/graduationfrominterventiongroup.

ProgressMonitoringofGoal
BasedonFountasandPinnell,guidedreadingisateachingapproachdesignedtohelp
studentslearnhowtoprocessavarietyofincreasinglychallengingtextswithunderstanding
andfluency.Thereforetheinterventionwillfocusonguidedreading.Theinterventionwas
selectedprimarilybasedontherootcauseanalysis.Theinterventionworkstomeetthe

academicneedsofstudents.Someessentialelementsforeffectiveguidedreadinginclude
strategiesbefore,duringandafterguidedreading.Beforeguidedreading,provide
introductionsthatshowstudentshowthetextisorganized,explaindifficultwordorconcepts,
andpreparethemtoreadindependently.Duringguidedreading,supportstudents'reading
withbrief,specificpromptstoguidethemtousestrategies(makingconnections,andother
readingstrategieswithreadingresponsesentencestarters(ondriveaddlink)learnedfrom
teacher.Afterguidedreading,helpstudentsrevisitandreflectonthetexttosupport
comprehension,processingstrategiesandextendingmeaningofthetext.Classroomteacher
willplaninstructionaltimetargetingspecificcomprehensionskillsforsmallgroups,and
identifyskillsforwhichalargenumberofstudentsneedadditionalsupport,andplanflexible
smallgroupinstructionduringPLCandProfessionalDevelopmenttime.Inaddition,
classroomteacherwillselectappropriateinstructionalsupportandinterventionforstudents
whoarereadingbelowgradelevelbyencouragingstudentstoreadindependentlyattheir
readinglevel.
Thefamilieswillhaveaconnectionthroughcommunicationandparticipationduring
conferences.Iftheirchildcontinuestonotshowprogressinreading,thensixweek
communicationwillbeinplacetoensuretheirchild'sgapsarebeingclosedintheareaof
reading.Also,parentswillhavesupportfromblogsonSchoologythatwillincludenewsletters,
articlesandeasytoimplementactivitiesathometofosterreadingcomprehension.
Teacherswillprovideopportunitiestochallengestudentswhoshowsignificantprogressinthe
SRItestingbyprovidingappropriatelevelsofinterventionandsupporttostudentswhoare
showinglittlegrowthwithsmallgroup(inclass).IfzeroornegativeLexilegrowthisrecorded,
checktoseeifstudents'testexperienceisproblematicinsomewayandretestaccordingly
andparticipateinRead180interventionfor90minuteblockdaily.Studentswhoare
performingbelow200400lexilefromgradelevelrangeandfarbelowSTARtestscorewill
qualifyforintervention.
Thedatathatwillbecollectedthroughouttheinterventionplanforprogressmonitoringwillbe
STARTest(each6weeks),ARtests,SCRreadingTests,smalldataguidedreading
anecdotalnotes,Read180onlineprogram,LexiaCore5,andweeklypacketstudentwork.
Thestudentpacketwillbeharddatathatcanallowstafftoanalyzestudentsinclass
performancebystandard.Studentswhoshowsignificantandcontinuousgrowthevery6

weekswillbeabletoberemovedfromtheinterventiongroup.Thedatagrowthmustbe
evidentallthreeassessmentinSTARtest,SCR,andSRIforthe20152016schoolyear.

EducationalSupportandProfessionalDevelopment
Theeducationalsupportwillbeleadbyschoolsiteleaders,administration,TOSAs,and
GradeLevelRepresentatives,throughbiweeklyprofessionaldevelopments(PD).The
professionaldevelopmentswillbefocusingonreadingcomprehensionthroughguided
reading.Thetwohourprofessionaldevelopmentwillhaveobjectivestomeetstudentsneeds
insmallgroupintervention.Ifstudentscontinuetohavedifficultywithgrowthinreading
comprehensioninfourthgrade,thenstudentscanparticipateintheinterventionofRead180.
Furthermore,thePDswillbeleadbyadministrationandgradelevelrepresentativestoensure
averticalalignment.Verticalalignmentandlearningwalkswillbepresentedtogradelevel
teachers,whichfocusesondifferentpartsofanentireeducationsystemwithinthe
organization.Thesupportwillbeprovidedfromteachersinvariousgradelevels.Inaddition,
teacherswillbetaughttoanalyzedataandseekrootcauses,trends,andshareeffective
strategiesduringgradelevelplanningtime.Thedataanalyzeduringprofessional
developmentswillbeLexiaCore5,AcceleratedReading,DRAandSTARreadingscoresto
supportstudentcomprehensionexpectationsinallgradelevels.Thevarioustypesofdatawill
guideteacherstofosterindependentselfmonitoringbehaviorsandtheabilitytosearchfor
anduseavarietyofsourcesofinformationinthetexttoguidestudentslearningsinto
proficiency.Asaresult,ittakesgreateffort,leadership,teamwork,andresourcestoturnthe
schoolinthedirectionofrich,rigorous,differentiatedinstruction.Therefore,throughthe
professionaldevelopments,teacherswillbeexpectedtoselectdifferentbooksforthegroups
andtomovestudentsmorequicklyorslowlyforwardasinformedbythedataanalysis.The
allocatedtimewillallowgradelevelplanning,developingSMARTgoalsandnextstepsbased
ondataresults.Lastly,throughtheprofessionaldevelopmentofreadingcomprehension,
teacherscanfeelconfidentinprovidinghorizontallyalignedstrategiesandshareobservation
fromlearningwalksfromgradestwothroughfive.Theopencommunicationbetween
administrationandteacherscanleadtoasolidifiedandunifiedformofteachingguided
readingandsuccessfullyleadstudentstosuccess.

ImplementandMonitorActionPlan
CalendarActivitiesfortheYear

September

January

DRAtesting

May

WeeklyReadingPacketand
ARtests

WeeklyReadingPacketand
ARtests

administerSMI

administerSMI

6weekintervention,flexible
grouping

6weekintervention,flexible
grouping

weeklyparentcommunication

weeklyparentcommunication

classroomobservationsand
learningwalks

classroomobservationsand
learningwalks

BiweeklyPDsonguided
reading

BiweeklyPDsonguided
reading

administerSMI
WeeklyReadingPacketand
ARtests
6weekintervention,flexible
grouping
weeklyparentcommunication
BiweeklyPDsonguided
reading

October

February

June

WeeklyReadingPacketand
ARtests

WeeklyReadingPacketand
ARtests

administerSMI

administerSMI

6weekintervention,flexible
grouping

6weekintervention,flexible
grouping

weeklyparentcommunication

weeklyparentcommunication

classroomobservationsand
learningwalks

classroomobservationsand
learningwalks

BiweeklyPDsonguided
readingandresults

BiweeklyPDsonguided
readingandresults

DRAtesting
WeeklyReadingPacketand
ARtests
administerSMI
CAASPPtesting

6weekintervention,flexible
grouping
BiweeklyPDsonguided
readingandresults

November

March

WeeklyReadingPacketand
ARtests

WeeklyReadingPacketand
ARtests

administerSMI

administerSMI

6weekintervention,flexible
grouping

DistrictBenchmarks
ParentTeacherConference

weeklyparentcommunication
6weekintervention,flexible
grouping

classroomobservationsand
learningwalks

BiweeklyPDsonguided
readingandresults

BiweeklyPDsonguided
readingandresults

December

April

DRAtesting

WeeklyReadingPacketand
ARtests

WeeklyReadingPacketand
ARtests

administerSMI

administerSMI

6weekintervention,flexible
grouping

DistrictBenchmarks

weeklyparentcommunication

weeklyparentcommunication

ParentTeacherConference

classroomobservationsand
learningwalks

BiweeklyPDsonguided
readingandresults

BiweeklyPDsonguided
readingandresults

TimelineforDataCollectionandAnalysis

TrimesterOne

TrimesterTwo

TrimesterThree

SSTand/or504(if
applicable)

SSTand/or504(if
applicable)

SSTand/or504(if
applicable)

DRAscores

DRAscores

DRAscores

DistrictBenchmarks

DistrictBenchmarks

DistrictBenchmarks

SRC(25days)

SRC(25days)

SRC(25days)

STARreadingtest(25days)

STARreadingtest(25days)

STARreadingtest(25days)

SRI(25days)

SRI(25days)

SRI(25days)

ARweeklyquizzes

ARweeklyquizzes

ARweeklyquizzes

PreviousReportCards
SchoolFile

CommunicationPlanwithStakeholders

Howwillyoucommunicatewithparents?
Inordertoinformparentsaboutprogress,
Iwillcommunicatetoparentsbysendingadigitalletterofinterventionsviaemail.In
addition,theletterwillinformthemofthefocusonguidedreadingandtheimportance
ofindependentreadingathometofosteraloveforreading.Furthermore,constant
weeklycommunicationcanbedonethroughClassDojoand/orRemindApptoinform
parentsoftheirchild'sgrowthorneedsbasedonguidedreadingpracticeandSRC/
ARTests.Theemailswouldbedirectedtoindividualstudentsneedsandgrowth.The
communicationwillvaryduetoeachchild'sneedstoprovideacommunityof
transparentcommunication.Inaddition,Iwillcreateanopenforumofweeklyblogson
Schoologywithathomestrategiesandnewsletterstokeepparentsinvolvedinthe
process.
Howwillyoucommunicatewithadministration?
Inordertoinformadministration
aboutprogress,Iwillpresentweeklyupdatesbasedonweeklyguidedreadingpacket.
Theguidedreadingpacketfocusesononestandardforreadingcomprehensionto
ensurestudentsdemonstrateandmeetproficiency.Thisweeklypacketwill,inturn,
informteachersofprogressonstudents'skill.Anexcelsheetwillbeutilizedtogather
theweeklyreports,thenIwillemailadministrationtheprogressinamonthly
newsletter.Inaddition,administrationwillhavemonthlyreportsviaemailthatwill

includemonthlySTARreading,ARscores,Read180comprehensionreportsinthe
formatofanewsletter.

analyze formative assessment results

decide whether revisions to the plan are needed
communicate progress in any needed changes